As part of the federal CARES Act, the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program helps unemployed Californians who are business owners, self-employed, independent contractors, have limited work history, and others not usually eligible for regular state UI benefits who are out of business or services are significantly reduced as a direct result of the pandemic. The provisions of the program include:
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Up to 39 weeks of benefits starting with weeks of unemployment beginning February 2, 2020, through the week ending December 26, 2020, depending on when you became directly impacted by the pandemic.
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A new 13-week federal extension for those who run out of their regular state-provided UI benefits (maximum 26 weeks). File a PUA claim and you may be converted to the federal extension once it is available.
Visit the State of California’s EDD website(link is external) for more information. Please note, if you are not a U.S. citizen, you can only be paid PUA benefits if you were legally working in the U.S. when you were affected by COVID-19 and meet one of the other eligibility criteria.